The Calendar
by danisha sparks
Summary: The Ghostbusters are coming to a calendar near you! To jumpstart some much needed buzz for their business, Janine puts out a "hunk o' the month" calendar featuring the guys. Will this new strategy help them hit their target?
1. The Town Hall

Disclaimer: This is a work of FAN fiction. The author does not own any of the characters in this story and is in no way connected with its original creators, Dan Akyroyd and Harold Ramis.

"The Calendar"

1. The Town Hall

His back to his team, Dr. Peter Venkman stood scribbling at the whiteboard in front of him. He could hear his colleagues Winston Zeddemore and Ray Stanz fidgeting in their seats, eager to get this meeting over with. It was Friday after all, and well after office hours. Ray was looking forward to some quality snooze time – it'd been a somewhat lean week for them, but Fridays signaled a real break from the grind. Winston didn't have any concrete plans as of yet, but he was anxious to know what this particular meeting was all about. Peter had dropped the meeting as a last-minute "by-the-way" to them as soon as they got changed out of their uniforms earlier. Only Egon was taking the emergency meeting seriously, but then again, that was only to be expected.

Janine Melnitz walked up to him, carrying some files of considerable thickness. She set the stack down on the table where the Ghostbusters gathered, and took her place beside Egon. She had the clearest inkling out of all of them what the meeting was all about, and she knew it was going to be a long night. It wasn't like Peter to be getting all serious about business like this, but when he got an idea, he wanted everyone to pay attention.

"Okay, Venkman," Winston said. "Enough with the suspense already." Peter turned to face the team. He had a sheepish grin on his face, only halfway apologetic.

Like any other company, The Ghostbusters had their own annual expectations for revenue and sales as well as their own system for managing operations and marketing. Unlike any other company, meetings for planning the year ahead were unheard of, and took the form of dramatic emergency meetings like this one.

"Guys," Peter said, holding his hands up. "Sorry for pulling you in at the last minute like this, but I've been thinking."

"Uh-oh…" That was Ray. Thinking and Peter elicited two reactions. Ray's was the first. The rest braced themselves for the "What – are you crazy?" that will come later. It was only a matter of time.

Peter riffled through the files Janine had prepared for the meeting, selected a few sheets out of the stack and distributed these to each. "We gotta do something to pull up sales fast. I've been crunching some numbers…" And here Janine cleared her throat. "_Janine's_ been crunching some numbers and it doesn't look good."

"What?" Ray said. "Are we in some kind of financial trouble?"

"Not necessarily," Egon said, scanning the file presented to him. "I think what Peter's been trying to say is that the cost of our daily operations is considerably heavier than our projected revenue for the year."

"So you're saying we're not performing?" Winston said, crossing his arms over his shoulders. "What do we do, then? Charge extra for our services?"

Peter shook his head. "It's more than that, guys," he said. "I'm thinking the reason why we've had so few clients in the last months is because we're not as high profile as we used to be. People don't know that we still exist!"

Winston gave this some thought. Peter did have a point – apart from the really big accounts from the Mayor's office (payment of which, took longer than their private clients), little of what the Ghostbusters did caught anyone's attention these days. Sure, they may have been featured on tabloid news magazine shows in the past – some less credible than others, and only when there weren't any sleazy political scandals for the week, but those short, sensationalistic features weren't enough to make their business grow. They'd be celebrities for fifteen minutes and then promptly fade into near obscurity just as quickly as it had happened. Lately, their fifteen minutes have gotten shorter and shorter.

Peter rapped on the table for emphasis. "Ideas, guys. We need ideas." He turned his attention back to his notes on the whiteboard. On it were the words "publicity", "marketing", "buzz generating". Janine rolled her eyes. She heard the exact same phrases that morning on The Today Show. "We gotta bring out the big guns."

There's been a hotshot marketing analyst on the show talking about how self-marketing was the way of the future. He talked about how twenty years from now, ordinary people would be making a name for themselves via the media they put out – whether in print, tv or otherwise. And most of it would all be done digitally – through computers. His bold statement being, "Everything from pets to pornography will be built around a cult of amateurism." Sounded crazy, but then again, it was the 80's, after all.

"You want ideas?" Janine said, a slow mischievous grin spreading over her face. "I've got some ideas."


	2. The Pitch

2. The Pitch

It was perfect. In Janine's opinion, it was brilliant. And it was all thanks to her fun, fearless, female secret weapon.

_I knew these would come in handy one day. _Janine spread out about twelve of these across the table for the guys to review. "Okay," she said. "I want you to keep an open mind about this." She indicated that they pick a magazine each and start looking through them.

Naturally Peter went for the one with bikini-clad Paulina Porizkova on the cover. " 'Is Arnold Schwazenegger as Brainy as He Is Brawny?'" He smirked.

"That's certainly a provocative question," Egon said, flipping through the issue with Andie MacDowell on the cover. "I've certainly pondered the mass versus brain synapse activity myself."

Peter shook his head. "Janine, explain to me how an article on 'Why Hollywood Stars Prefer Younger Men' could be a plausible marketing strategy?" He glanced up from the magazine. "Oh, look! 'For Women Who Always Have Bad Luck With Men: Some Remedies'! Lest we forget – this meeting is about how to up the moolah coming in, not about your bad luck with men, ahem, _a man_."

"Are you finished?" Janine said, resisting the urge to smack Peter's mug with a rolled up December '87 issue.

"Let's hear your ideas, Janine," Ray said. Sometimes Peter went too far with the passive-aggressive references to the tension between Egon and Janine. Peter claimed he did it cause he cared and was in the long run, only helping Janine with Egon. Ray still struggled with that one.

Janine launched into her pitch. She explained how, while studying past clients' cases, she noticed that a large number of the calls placed were coming from women. Some of these women had families, some were older women who lived alone (old biddies who found themselves being chased by their refrigerators), and some were like her – single and living alone in the city. That comprised a small number out of the sample.

"That's untapped market right there," Janine said. She glanced at Egon, who was staring at her quite intently since she began her pitch. She looked away, feeling a blush come on. "There are hundreds of women who don't know who to call because they don't know we're here."

"How can they not know?" Winston said. "We have an ad out on tv!"

"That's on public access, Winston," Janine said. "And it's been running for ages. Maybe our target isn't aware of us because we're _just not talking to them._" She finished, with her gaze landing again on Egon. This time it was he who looked away first. Peter shifted, noticing.

Venkman went back to the whiteboard to scribble down "target women" before turning his attention back to Janine. He didn't have to prompt her to continue. Already, Janine was throwing out more reasons how reaching her demographic would boost business. She thumbed through the stack of magazines on the table, looking for a particular issue. When she found it, she started flipping through the pages until she found what she was looking for.

It was a spread for the magazine's annual run-down of the top "eligible bachelors". Eligible in this case meant, shirtless and gazing smolderingly into the camera lens. "We should put out a calendar. You guys should be in that calendar."

"WHOAH!" This was a collective reaction, as all four Ghostbusters backed away from the table as if it had somehow become charged with negative psychokinetic energy.

"Back up a minute," Winston said. "You want _us _to pose buck naked?"

Janine shrugged. "It's good enough for New York's Finest." Janine made it a point to get the New York Fire Department calendar every year.

"Yeah, but those guys-!" Ray was not without a bit of insecurity on this one. "I mean…"

Janine turned to Ray. Ray really wasn't aware of his effect on women.

Whereas Peter… "I say we do it." Peter overestimated his effect on women.


	3. The Confirmation

3. The Confirmation

The concept really was quite simple, and it made perfect sense. A calendar featured twelve months, so each Ghostbuster would have three months to his name.

Getting Peter Venkman to go along with the plan was easy. He had no problem being objectified, especially sexually. In fact, objectification fell under his ethos. The rest of the guys were going to be a bit trickier. Especially Egon. Janine knew she had to convince the guys fast. She decided to take it one Ghostbuster at a time, starting with Winston. She decided to work her action plan on them over the following week.

In Janine's objective opinion (meaning, all thoughts of Egon aside), Winston was the hottest Ghostbuster_. _Highly underrated because of how generally low-key he was, Winston wasn't a flashy sort of guy, but his steady, no-nonsense approach to things was quite attractive. Janine was pretty sure that outside of his uniform, Winston was packing quite a few surprises. Built like a star quarterback, Winston exuded strength without being cocky. "Take one for the team, Winston," she said, winking as he and Egon walked by her desk on Monday. "I know a few ladies who'd be willing to shell out some bucks for a glimpse of your sweet ass."

"Well…" Winston said, still trying to be modest. "I wouldn't know about that." He chuckled to himself softly. _Why not…? Sister said I'd look gooooood. _He grinned as he imagined himself preening before snapping camera lenses, but he caught himself just as Egon cleared his throat. He raised an eyebrow at Winston but said nothing more. Expecting Janine to turn her attention to him next, he only saw her turning her back to them to attend to her filing, suddenly dismissive. "Think about it, Winston."

At lunch, Janine noticed that Ray had prepared a healthy meal for himself – some green salad, a grilled chicken sandwich on whole wheat bread and an apple. He sucked his belly when she passed by too. Ray was more self-conscious of Winston, and needed for his self-confidence to be built up a bit. She waited for Ray to bring it up.

"So, uh…" he said. "You really think this will work?"

A lot of women went for the Ray-type. Why? Because he was husband material! Janine was already thinking of creative ways to style Ray just by watching him prepare his lunch. She watched his hands – he had nice hands, and over his arms a fine sprinkling of hair. Sexy. Coupled with a sweet attitude, Janine knew Ray would make any month hotter. Looking at him, any gal could guess he'd be awesome to snuggle under the covers with. They ate together in comfortable silence, with Janine's brain coming up with concepts for Winston and Ray. She had a feeling that with a little visual encouragement, Ray wouldn't have a problem committing to the project by the end of the week.

Which just left her with Egon. He'd been just as shocked as any of the other guys when she brought up the idea at the Town Hall meeting, but she was unsure as to what his specific objections were. He'd simply sat back and absorbed her pitch, the protests from Winston and Ray, and Peter's insistence they go through it. When the meeting wrapped, it was difficult for Janine to tell what he really thought about it. Understandably, he wasn't thrilled at the prospect of being photographed in states of undress, but he didn't seem to be violently against the idea, either. Janine tried to think of a strategy on how to work on getting Egon's "ok" for the project as she worked all that afternoon.

"Hey Janine," Peter had requested to borrow Janine's carefully filed collection of magazines to "study" over the weekend. Amid the nonsense of the inevitable weight loss tips and fad diets found within the pages, Peter had to admit, some of the stuff was pretty useful. He'd enjoyed in particular the summer swimsuit editorial and the Bedside Astrologer. "For the calendar – what do you think would work better? Do we divvy up quarterly, or take turns month by month?"

"I don't know, Peter," Janine said. "Do you see yourself as more of a summer or more of an autumn?"

Before he could retort, the phone rang. _Score: Janine- 1, Evil- 0._ "Hello? Ghostbusters!"

Peter went back to his desk to weigh out the pros and cons of his layout scheme. "I really think we should alternate months!" he called out to her.

Come Wednesday, Peter was getting antsy. He'd called another meeting so that he could present some photo shoot concepts for The Calendar to the guys. He'd been throwing some ideas back and forth with Janine since the weekend. As far as he knew, Zedd and Tex were in, but Egon hasn't said a word about it since it was brought up Friday night. He compared notes with Janine.

"Have you heard anything from Egon?"

Janine paused, checking first if Peter was just setting her up for another one of his jokes. When she saw the question was posed in earnest, she sighed. "I haven't figured out how to bring it up to him again," she said. "If he'd been openly against the idea of it to begin with, I might have just dropped the usual innuendos. But…"

"Let me see what I can do," Peter said. Janine swept her arm up in an "off you go, then" gesture, a rueful look on her face. She didn't like owing Peter any favors, but Peter wanted the Calendar project to take off as much as she did.

"Oh Egon?" Peter not so casually stepped into Egon's lab. "Have you got a minute to discuss the matter of The Calendar for a second?"

Egon was in the middle of calibrating his Proton Pack. He turned off his soldering iron, and lifted up the goggles he was wearing. "I'd thought that you and Janine would have figured out the logistics of that between the two of you?"

Peter pulled up a stool for himself and sat down. "Yeeeee-ahhhh…about that," he said. "Just want to make sure you're agreeable to it. After all, this _is _something the entire team needs to get behind of."

"Peter, when Janine presented to us the prospect of all four of us posing nude-"

"Semi-nude," Peter corrected.

"- for purposes of marketing and publicity, I'd had my reservations as Winston and Raymond," Egon said. "As you very well know, I am the last person in the group to have any kind of media savvy at all. However, I do understand the reason behind it, and I trust that this calendar will come out…tastefully?"

"Hey, you got it, Spengs!" Peter said. _Whew, now that wasn't so hard. _Peter got up to leave Egon to carry on with whatever he was he was doing before he interrupted. "I'll see you guys later at the meeting, then."

_Tastefully. Funny how Egon would phrase it like that. That would mean that the man knew the difference between what was tasteful and what wasn't. _Peter found himself wondering what "tasteful" might entail, using Egon's standards. _Guess you just never know with that guy. _

Peter found Janine looking up expectantly at him when he got back from Egon's lab. He winked. Patting her shoulder as he walked by, he said, "Don't say I never did anything for you." 


	4. The Test Shots

4. The Test Shots

Since there wasn't any budget to speak of for the calendar project, a DIY approach was taken. All they really needed was to borrow a fairly decent SLR camera for the shots. Everything else – lights and any other extra styling would be easy – nothing a trip to the supply closet couldn't take care of. Peter self-appointed himself to be the creative director of the project, and Janine's main task was to take the pictures.

Just so the guys would get used to being photographed, Janine carried the camera wherever she went and snapped stolen shots of the guys whenever she thought they were in some kind of pose that was remotely calendar worthy. At first Ray and Winston were entirely self-conscious and positioned themselves in unnatural poses they thought would register well on camera. But after a few days, they got used to it and hardly noticed Janine snapping away anymore.

Janine snuck taking pictures of Egon too, but he didn't appear to be as self-conscious as Ray or Winston. He didn't mind it when Janine snapped his picture as he worked in the lab, or merely just standing around chatting with Ray. He didn't even mind it when Peter took a turn playing photographer, yelling motivations as Egon accidentally entered frame.

"Yeah, baby!" Peter said, clicking away as Egon walked in front of the lens to grab a box of conductors from inside the supply closet. "Oh, that's hot! More! Make love to the camera!"

"Uh…how?" Egon said, unsure, but unperturbed.

Janine of course, took the greatest pleasure from having legitimate cause to take beauty shots of her beloved physicist. She took extra care finding his light, and the most flattering angles. Even though what she was taking were essentially test shots, she wanted not to waste any click of the shutter on a bad shot of Egon. Her telephoto lens caressed the fluid lines of his body, captured his precise and exacting movements, and caught in expressive detail every strand of stray hair or bead of sweat. She couldn't have asked for a better subject to practice her photography skills.

"I'm not bothering you, am I?" Janine had visited Egon in the lab again, and was now sitting across from him, adjusting the focus on the camera.

"Not at all," Egon said. Absorbed in tabulating the results of his last experiment into a logbook, he hardly noticed the intrusion. However, what was mildly distracting to him at the moment, was the faint scent of orange blossoms and vanilla as Janine inched even closer to take her shots. He always found that pleasantly distracting, but he didn't let it show. He looked up momentarily from his work and gave her a small and, what he hoped was a reassuring smile before resuming writing. "Do what you must."

Janine caught the smile, and hoped to God her finger was quick enough to hit the button on the camera. Her stomach did a little flip, and was glad that he couldn't directly see her face because of the SLR. Every time Egon smiled, she had that physical reaction. It doubled every time he directed those small smiles her way. _Hoo boy, if these are just the test shots, then I better brace myself for the actual photo shoot. _

There would be three shots per Ghostbuster – one wearing the uniform (or halfway out of the uniform, as the styling required), one in civilian clothing, and one tastefully done nude shot. Janine felt the sweat bead at the back of her knees as she thought of Egon's shots for the calendar.

"Are you all right?" Egon said, looking back up at her. Janine was on her knees balanced on the stool as she hunched over slightly over the table. "That position doesn't look very comfortable."

There was that smile again. Damn that man. "Don't worry 'bout it," Janine said, trying to keep her tone light. "Just remind me to bring the tripod next time." She brought her finger down on the button, but something caught. "Uh-oh…"

"Let me see that for a second," Egon said, moving over to where Janine was. Taking the jammed camera from Janine, he reached for a random the hex key on his worktable and fiddled with the device. It only took a moment before Egon raised the camera to his face, aimed the lens at Janine and clicked. "There," he said. "Problem fixed."

"Thanks," Janine said, her face heating up.

"If I may just cut right into the building sexual tension between the two of you," Peter burst into the room. "You guys gotta come down and see this!" A devilish grin was on his face, which meant that something was going his way in the best way. "Guess who's ready for his close-up!"


	5. The Shoot

5. The Shoot

"Let's go before I lose my nerve!" Ray Stanz stood clad only in his boxer shorts and boots, holding a near-full bottle of Jack Daniels. Under the houselights, Ray's skin was slick with an unnatural sheen.

Egon adjusted his glasses and gave the air a short sniff. "Smells like baby oil. Winston, did you know about this?" Egon turned his attention to Winston, who was waxing down the Ecto-1 in what appeared to be a thorough manner.

"Hey man, the sooner we get it over with, the better," he said. "Just getting the Ecto ready for Ray's debut right here."

"Oh, props – I like it!" Peter said, surveying how shiny and camera-ready Ecto was.

Ray walked over to the front. "So I was kind of thinking that maybe I could stretch out on the hood or something."

Peter whistled low and regarded Ray with a new respect. "I see you've been giving this a lot of thought, my friend!"

"Scariest thing I've seen all week," Winston commented. "Pass me that bottle of Jack, Ray."

"Janine," Peter said. "How soon can you set up?"

All things considered, the photo shoot had been a lot of fun. The impromptu, impulsive set-up lent to some creative thinking on everyone's part, and letting the momentum carry them to shoot the rest of the guys' shots right after.

Since Ray was all oiled up and ready to go, they began with the most difficult shot – the "tasteful nude." The idea of Ray laying over the Ecto's hood was entirely his own, with only a raised leg to cover the crotch area. He'd covered his privates with a sock when they discovered the shot couldn't convincingly be taken with Ray wearing boxers.

Peter stood close by, barking motivation for the "model". "Hey, Pete," Ray said. "Just stay close by in case I need to be fluffed."

Winston found himself on gaffer duty. He was able to set up a few makeshift lights around the shooting area. He'd unearthed a couple of red head lights from storage. Meanwhile, Egon made himself useful by being the runner guy/assistant gaffer. He offered to carry any other camera accoutrements and hold up the makeshift reflector (a large piece of Styrofoam.)

"You look good, Ray," Janine said, as Peter made some last minute limb adjustments on Ray's leg. "Try to relax your jaw a bit."

Peter hit the "play" button on Janine's cassette player and Prince's "Kiss" came blasting on the speakers.

"Gimme smoldering, Tex!" Peter barked. "Seduce me with your eyes!"

"I'm seducing!" Ray answered, through clenched teeth.

"I think Ray needs more wood, Pete," Winston said, grinning. "Get to it!"

"You just wait til your turn, Zedde," Ray said, trying to ignore the cramp forming in his calf. "Hurry, Janine, this oil is sticky!"

The bottle of Jack was passed on from hand to hand. Even Egon took a swig or two when Janine handed him the bottle.

"Hard part's over," Janine said, as she shot the last frame on the first roll. "At least it is for Ray."

Ray jumped off from the hood of the Ecto, forgetting he was only covered in the sock. It didn't seem to matter, as everyone seemed not to care at this point. "Oh, thank god, finally. Can I take a break before the next shots?" He couldn't wait to wipe the baby oil from his skin.

"Okay, mofos," Winston said, tugging up his shirt. "I'm next."

"Nice, Zedd!" Peter said, throwing Ray a towel. "That's the spirit."

"Grab that Proton Pack, Winston," Janine said, struck with inspiration. "Let's shoot you by the rear of the Ecto."

"Ok," Winston said, unzipping his jeans. "Oh, don't worry about it, man," he said, just as Ray was about to remove the sock from his crotch to hand over to Winston. "I'll use my own, thanks."

Janine had Winston carrying his Proton Pack over his naked shoulders and leaning against the rear of the Ecto, the Ghostbusters logo prominently seen. The thrower was strategically positioned by his upper thighs in a cheeky double entendre.

"That's sexy, Winston," Janine said, her temperature rising. She didn't know if it was the red head lights, or the shots of whiskey, her effort in taking the shots, or the fact that she's seen two of the Ghostbusters in the buck that turned up her body heat, but she found herself starting to sweat. She's never pictured any of her bosses out of their uniforms, (with the obvious exception of Egon) so she found herself unexpectedly turned on, in spite of herself.

"Does this look gay?" Winston said, raising one arm up and showing off his tricep. Egon took another swig from the bottle of Jack as he took his place by the light stands. Winston winced. "Too much, you think?"

The whiskey shots definitely helped everyone loosen up some. Winston's session went more swiftly than Ray's had. After an hour, Winston was done, and Peter was up.

"Janine, can you take me by the pole?" he said, stripping down to a single sock over the crotch, just as Ray and Winston had done.

"Whatever you say, Dr. Venkman," Janine said. Egon and Winston unplugged and repositioned the lights over to where Peter had instructed.

"Ray, you got any more of that baby oil?"

It was now close to 2am, and they were on a roll. Janine didn't feel tired yet, but she was well aware that she still had Egon to shoot. _Only one more Ghostbuster to go and we're done with the nudes. _Janine tried not to stress over the fact that the last Ghostubuster was Egon. _Thank God for Jack Daniels. _

"I could get used to this," Peter said, over the steady clicking of the camera.

"Don't quit your day job, Venkman," Ray said. He was very drunk.

"You know what would have been cool? If we had calibrated the packs so that we could use the streams in the shot? You know, like it was shooting off from- "

"I thought we agreed that the shots were going to be tasteful?" Egon said, albeit with a not too sober grin.

"Taste is subjective anyway," Peter said, waving a dismissive hand. "If I were you, Spengs, I'd get ready. You're up next." He widened his eyes, wiggled his eyebrows and stuck his tongue out at Janine. She gave him the finger when Egon wasn't looking. She was tempted to underexpose all of Peter's shots, but decided against it, knowing Venkman would demand a re-shoot.

With Venkman done, three out of four of the Ghostbusters were able to kick back a bit more. Ray took over runner duties when Egon's turn came up. Unlike the other three, Egon still maintained a modicum of self-respect and opted to excuse himself to get out of his clothes. He returned with a towel tied snugly around his hips. "Okay, Janine, how do you want me?"

It took a minute for Janine to process Egon's question. Her mind froze, her brain stalling for a few beats. Egon walked on the set so casually, like he did this sort of thing everyday. The act of stripping down to a white towel didn't faze him out a bit. She mentally prepared herself for having to shoot Egon nude, but no matter how much psyching up she did, nothing could have prepared her for the actual sight. And oh my god, what a sight. The towel was tied below his belly button and she could see the happy trail that led straight to his…._ Get a grip, Janine. Now is not the time to lose it. _She breathed in sharply. She hadn't realized how lean his body was until she saw Egon out of his uniform. Fully clothed, the tall physicist appeared lanky, but now Janine could see the strength in his chest and arms. She blinked and shook her head to get her bearing.

"Here, this might work," Peter said, inadvertently saving Janine's ass with a suggestion. He thrust a PKE meter towards Egon. "Put_ that_ over your crotch."

Ray had thrust out a stool for Egon to sit on, anticipating the sudden lack of proper judgment on Janine's end. Egon took the PKE meter from Peter and proceeded to remove the towel from around his waist. Janine busied herself with adjusting the lens on the camera, her back to Egon. Peter winced. "Geez, Egon, I can see your nuts. Didn't you cover up with a sock?"

"I don't need to," he said, positioning the PKE meter over his manly bits. "I find the prospect of wearing a sock around my genitals unnecessarily uncomfortable."

_This is some kind of special torture! _Janine fought very hard to keep her cool as she snapped Egon's picture. _I'm trying damn hard to be professional right now._

"This is getting to be downright pornographic," Winston said, shaking his head. He had to hand it to Egon – he was one bad-ass confident motherfucker.

Janine's legs were near bucking from underneath her as Egon adjusted his position on the stool slightly, always careful to keep the PKE meter at his front. The way he was gripping that thing in his hands, not to mention the fact that it just about exactly covered him branded itself onto Janine's brain. Any adjustment of the PKE meter from the localized area and Janine would surely get an eyeful. She tried to ignore the taut muscles on Egon's thighs and the veins that stood out in his fore arms.

"That's…um… I think that's a wrap," Janine said, when she reached the end of the last roll of film.

Ray, Winston and Peter clapped. "Nice work, Janine," Peter said, throwing Egon his discarded towel so he can cover up. "And nice work, guys!" It was 4 o'clock in the morning. "Do we have any of that whiskey left?"


	6. The Contact Prints

6. The Contact Prints

He rarely did it, but Egon locked the doors of the lab behind him as he entered. Back in the bunk room, the other guys slept on, recovering the hours they spent cam-whoring from the night before. They'd given Janine the day-off, but Egon discovered that she had returned at some point earlier in the day to leave him a large brown envelope on his desk with a Post-it on the front. He'd come across it when he'd padded downstairs to fix himself a hangover cure of hot cocoa. It was almost 5 o'clock in the afternoon.

"E –

Just thought you might want to have first look at these.

J"

Egon carefully opened the brown envelope and pulled out three contact prints of the previous photo shoot and all of his test shots. He sat down at his table and reached for a magnifying glass so he could see more detail on the film negative-sized prints.

He saw himself through Janine's lens: shots of himself as he worked in this very lab – a focused furrow drawn across his brows as he bent low on the same table, light casting a soft glow around his head. Egon in silhouette against a window as he dusted the jar that contained a human brain – the particles of dust caught in mid-air; a close-up of his hands as they transferred mold specimen onto a Petri dish. And his shots from the night before – with the PKE meter held across his front. He'd been unaware that he'd had just a trace of a smile as he looked into the camera, at Janine.

He felt his cheeks growing warm with self awareness. He blushed at the recollection of the events captured on 35mm film. If Egon had any sense of becoming self-conscious about being photographed so intimately, he was only made aware of it now as he looked at the results. He didn't really care for having his picture taken, but this was his first time to come across photographs of himself that were actual studies of character. These were more than just snap shots – they were portraits. Egon saw himself being seen the way Janine saw him. The blood rushed to his temples and heat spread across his chest. He was sure it wasn't because of his hangover.

Posing for Janine felt liberating. Egon had always been comfortable in his own skin, but before last night, didn't know to what extent. He'd be lying to himself if he said he hadn't liked disrobing just because she'd asked him to. He would have done so happily for Janine, camera or no camera. _I wanted to show you more, but not that way, _he thought, slipping the prints back into the envelope.


	7. The First Run

7. The First Run

After Peter the creative director made the final selection on the shots, the first run printing of The Ghostbusters Calendar was ready for the printers. The succeeding photo shoots had been easier than the first one – by the time the last shot was taken – that of Ray, among his pile of comic books – things were pretty much old hat. As soon as Peter had marked all the approved shots on the contact prints with a red grease pencil, Janine was off to the printing press.

The only contact prints Peter didn't get to see were the test shots Janine took of Egon. Those prints were safely tucked away in a file Egon had carefully stowed in a locked drawer in his lab.

The final product came out gorgeous – they had all agreed on matte printing, and that gave the calendar a sophisticated, artistic texture over the more ordinary glossy ones. The nude photos were shot in black and white, while the other photos were shot in color. The year kicked off with Winston, followed by Peter, then Ray and Egon, then back around again in that order.

Janine sent out a few copies to some of her friends in the advertising business, just to get people talking about it. Pretty soon they were going to have to sell the calendars, but a preview for media friends couldn't hurt. She sent one to the editor of her favorite monthly women's magazine too. A few weeks after mailing these out, the calls started coming in – all from the desired demographic too.

At the post-mortem meeting, Peter was very pleased to announce that since the calendar had been released to the public, their revenue had upped significantly, and most of the time, the busts themselves were not that serious. While it was true that a lot of single women around the city had real ghost problems, not all called to have their demons busted. Well…not demons of the supernatural kind, anyway. They took those calls anyway – with Peter talking down the client and the other guys doing a routine sweep of the area. The bill was promptly sent to the address, regardless of a bust. It was win-win.

Celebratory boxes of pizza and six packs of beer were strewn across the conference table as they reviewed the month's revenue. Janine was just telling them how the calendar was a huge hit with her friends from the ad agency. Winston had news of his own – someone had actually approached him to ask to see if he had a "look book" and if he already had the proper representation. Meanwhile, Ray had a couple of dates lined up, referred to him by a couple of satisfied clients.

Egon was looking at Janine from across the table. He had not yet thanked her for the beautiful shots she'd taken of him, or for the secret sneak preview contact prints she'd left for him. He tried to catch her gaze as she spoke. It must have worked because her eyes landed on him mid-sentence. She raised her eyebrows quizzically. How can he thank her? He wanted to return the gesture, but didn't want to be inappropriate. He was still her boss after all, and sweet as Janine was, he still felt unsure about how best to proceed. It was a very delicate situation he didn't want to risk upsetting.

"Ok guys," Peter said, rubbing his hands together. "What say we put out heads together and think about what we wanna do for the _next year's _calendar?"

FIN


End file.
